


Not Going Anywhere

by primarchkryik



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alive Portgas D. Ace, Alternate Universe - Mashima Hiro's Fairy Tail Setting, Eventual Romance, Fairy tail au, I'm Bad At Summaries, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-16
Updated: 2016-02-16
Packaged: 2018-05-20 23:55:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6030505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/primarchkryik/pseuds/primarchkryik
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story of how Marco and Ace meet and work together in the world of Fairy Tail as Marco reveals not all is as it seems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Going Anywhere

    

Marco hummed as he continued with his wood carving, small shavings fell to his feet. The little bird was slowly taking shape in his hands as he listened to his brothers and sisters laugh and squeal happily.  
    “Hey Marco, where’s this bird gonna go?” Thatch asked as he suddenly plopped down next to the elder.  
    “I was thinking about adding to the mantle, yoi.” Marco motioned towards the large fireplace where hundreds of photos lay scattered across the top and along the wall. “Want to have something so people remember me, yoi.”  
    Thatch laughed at that his hand came up to clap Marco on the back. “I’m pretty sure your picture up there trumps anything you could put on the mantle." They both looked up at the largest picture on the wall. A much younger Whitebeard stood proud with the guild’s original members. A slightly younger Marco stood next to the huge man, a white cape with brilliant blue feathers hung off his shoulders. “Doubt anyone is gonna forget the people who built our home. Besides, it’s not as if you’re going anywhere re you?” Thatch asked with a small smile.  
    Marco smiled back and carved the last detail into the bird’s wings before he stood up and placed the small figurine next to a photo of him and Thatch after the latter’s first S-Class Job. “Guess not.”  
    “That’s what I thought, now come on and get up. I actually came to see you for a reason. Pops asked me to come get you.”  
    “Why didn'. you say so sooner?” Marco demanded as he jumped up. He quickly turned his arms into wings and flew through the opening in the floors up to the third floor. He didn’t waste any time to greet the few members of his guild that stood outside of Pops’ office. Marco bypassed knocking and simply pushed the worn door open. Edward “Whitebeard” Newgate sat behind his monstrous desk, his bisento in one hand, and a squirming teenager in the other. “Pops?”  
    “There you are, Marco- this child climbed in the window. Apparently he wants to kill me.” Marco hummed. “I'm going to leave him in your care for now; he doesn’t seem to want to leave.” With that, the teen was thrown straight into Marco’s arms and was caught easily before Marco bowed slightly and backed out of the room.  
    “You should be ashamed of yourself, yoi.” Marco said when the door shut.  
    “Why? I will take Whitebeard’s head!” The boy squirmed in Marco’s iron grip.  
    “That’s murder, yoi.” Marco smirked. “And because he’s never going to do his paperwork now. It takes us weeks to get him into his office, yoi.” He dropped the boy. “He’s going to milk this for months. My name’s Marco by the way, what’s yours?”  
    “Why?” The teen looked a little too suspicious.  
    “Because if you’re going to join our guild I need to know your name for our records.” He stared. “What? Pops must have liked you if you’re still alive so that means you’re family now. What’s your name?”  
    “I can’t join your guild.” He spat. “I won’t.” Marco didn’t point out that there’s a difference between ‘can’t’ and ‘won’t’. “Magic guilds are disgusting places, I won’t be a part of one.” The boy quickly ran away from the blond, his steps hidden in the sound of the party downstairs and Marco knew they would see more of the kid soon.”  
~~~  
    Sure enough the kid showed up three times a day for the next three weeks and left every time with a new collection of bruises and a new offer from Marco. The most recent attempt resulted in the boy being thrown against the guilds’ still closed doors and Marco took his cue and grabbed a plate of meat and sat next to the lump of freckles and broken pride.  
    “You need to eat, yoi. Your magic reserves are too low.” When the boy looked at him in surprise he smiled gently. “I’ve always been very sensitive to magic. Now eat.”  
    The teen slowly pulled the plate closer to himself and but into a large piece of beef. Almost immediately the boy started to shovel the food into his mouth. Marco wasn’t sure he was breathing let along swallowing. When he finally slowed down, he fidgeted with the edge of his shirt before he turned towards the elder. The rest of the guild seemed to ignore them but Marco knew they were all listening in. “Why do you want me to join? Why do you call him Pops instead of Master?”  
    Marco hummed. “Pops thinks of us as his sons and daughters. We turned this guild into a safe haven when we built it. It used to be just some shack with our symbol on the front but even then it was home. We've never felt anything but safe here. We're a safe haven for the broken and unwanted." Marco looked over at the mage. “This can be your home too, yoi. A safe place.” The boy’s eyes widened before he scrubbed at them as if to stop the tears Marco saw regardless. “So, what’s your name?”  
    “Ace.” The kid choked. “My name is Ace.”  
    “Well Ace…” Marco said as he pushed himself up. The members of Siren Spawn all turned with huge smiles as he held out his hand. “Where do you want your mark?”  
    Marco smiled softly as Ace started crying but Ace reached up anyway and grasped Marco’s hand and let himself be pulled up. “Wherever you think it’ll look best.” He choked out with a watery smile.  
~~~  
    “Marco! Marco!” A now very familiar voice chirped in his hear. The man in question looked up from his log books; as the man in charge of recording Jobs he was frequently found pouring over the guild’s records. Ace grinned as he leaned over Marco’s shoulder.  
    “Whatever it is, my answer is ‘no’, yoi.” Marco said as he checked off another name. Ace just laughed.  
    “I have a favor to ask- will you take me on an S-Class Job?” Ace widened his eyes hopefully and clasped his hands together in a poor attempt to look like a kicked puppy. The pose did not go well with Ace’s “punch first talk later” attitude and deep voice. “Pops already gave me the okay!”  
    Marco narrowed his eyes at the mage, but his advanced hearing did catch a skip in his heartbeat. “Why?”  
    Ace shrugged. “Experience mostly. And I want to get to know you better, and I want to know what type of magic you have.” Ah, Marco thought bemused, there it was.  
    “Well did you look at the Job board upstairs and see what one you wanted?” Marco asked with a small smile.  
    Ace grinned. “Who do you think I am, Marco? Of course I did!” He thrust a paper into the elder’s face. “5,000,000 bounty for taking out a huge monster!”  
    Marco hummed. “Pretty standard for an S-Class Job though, sure you don’t want to do something more challenging?”  
    “I can pick something harder?” Ace looked positively ecstatic.  
    Marco laughed and nodded. “You probably don’t know this, but I’ve been an S-Class mage for a very long time. Very long time. You can pick whichever Job you want, yoi.”  
    “Marco was the first person to join the guild, my boy.” Vista chimed in from his table behind the duo. Ace turned as Marco looked over his shoulder. The flower mage smirked around his beer. “And he’s the only person to come back from a 100 Year Job successful. He is the best person to have take you on your first S-Class Job though, good choice.” Ace looked over at Marco and he shrugged.  
    “The mission was right up my alley and it catered to my abilities very well, it was really all coincidence, yoi.” He nodded back towards the Job posting. “Please don’t pick a 100 Year Job, however. I’ve only ever done one, and I don’t think I could survive another one.” He gave the teen a wry smile, which Ace returned.  
    “Okay, I’ll be back then.” With that Ace scampered off to take another look at the Job postings.  
    Marco watched him for a moment before he noticed the table that was staring at him. He stared right back at them. “What are you staring at, yoi.” Izou and Thatch grinned at him stupidly while Vista went back to his meal. Jozu just smiled at him before he too went back to eating.  
    “You’re really enamored with that boy.” Izou said with a smirk. “He seems to like you too.”  
    “Don’t go there.” Marco warned lowly as his eyes narrowed. “I’m going to outlive him by generations.”  
Thatch moved his chair closer and set his hand on Marco’s arm. “Marco, I might give you a lot of crap, but we want you to be happy. Ace makes you happy.” Marco scowled and shrugged the arm off. “Hey, I’m being serious. The only person you’ve ever really been close to is Pops, and he’s not going to be around forever.” Marco turned back to his work and squeezed his eyes shut as he reached up and rubbed at his temples. “Marco…”  
    “I don’t want to talk about this right now, Thatch. Please.” Thankfully, the cook slid back to his table and Marco sighed as he heard Ace come stumbling back with a new sheet. “So what Job did you pick, yoi?”  
~~~  
    “I still don’t see how this is supposed to be very fun.” Marco said for the tenth time as they rode the train towards their Job’s destination.  
Ace rolled his eyes as he ripped into his dinner. “This is supposed to take a long time, right? That gives me time to get to know you! And I get to learn how to lift curses and I get to kick demon ass!” Marco snorted and leaned back into his seat. “You do know how to lift curses, right Marco?”  
    “Yeah, I’ve done it a couple times, yoi.” Marco patted his pack. “I brought the books I thought would help us the most. From what I could tell from the listing the curse is attracting demons and they’re attacking in waves, so a long as we cut off what’s attracting them it shouldn’t take us longer than a few months.” Ace hummed as he shoveled more food into his mouth. “How do you eat so much, yoi?”  
    “I didn’t get to eat this much back home. I guess I just eat as much as I can when I can.” Marco raised his brow his question.  
    “You come from a poor family?” He asked curiously, no judgement in his voice.  
    Ace snorted. “No, actually. I come from a pretty wealthy family, really wealthy actually.” Marco hummed. “You?”  
    “I don’t have a family, it’s complicated. The Siren Spawn are the only family I’ve ever had. Pops saved me I guess.”  
    “From what?” Ace paused and sat back in his seat as he watched Marco carefully.  
    “From a life of solitude, silence, slavery.” Marco shrugged. “Doesn’t matter now, I’m not going back.” Ace frowned but Marco waved a hand. “Like I said, it doesn’t matter. We better get some rest before we reach the town though, we’ve still got several hours.”  
~~~  
    In hindsight, Marco should have known that the Job was going to go south. Ace was inexperienced and the Job practically required a skillful mind and body. He sighed as he scribbled out yet another failed attempt at breaking the curse that was laid over the town. The people of the town had adapted to the attacks, they barricaded their walls and everyone including children were armed to the teeth. Ace had had a field day the first few raids, but even he was running on fumes after a few fights.  
    “I just need to rethink this, yoi.” Marco murmured to himself as he pulled another book towards him. “Just need to find what makes this curse work, find the formula, the pattern, anything. Need to reverse it. Need to save these people.” He had been pouring over texts and potions and spells for weeks now, he was fairly certain that there wasn’t much more he could do to purify- Marco suddenly slammed the book shut and stood up. “Ace!” He called as he quickly made his way out of their shared room.  
    The teen stumbled into view as Marco hurried down the stairs. “Marco? What’s wrong? Are they back?” He fumbled with his belt as he followed the S-Class mage. “Marco?”  
    “We need to purify the curse. We need something that’s pure magic, something that these people haven’t already tried, right?” Marco asked as he suddenly turned towards the young man. Ace came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs as he cocked his head.  
    “Yes? But didn’t we already know that?” Ace looked extremely confused at this point.  
    “Yes, we did. But now I know what we need, yoi.”  
    “And what’s that?” Ace asked hesitantly.  
    Marco pushed his hair out of face. “Me.” He turned to Ace. “We’re going to use my blood to purify this town.”  
~~~  
    “Okay, wait a fucking second.” Ace finally said as they made their way to the center of town. “What the fuck do you mean by ‘we’re going to use my blood to purify the town’? And why does it have to be your blood? Why does it have to be blood at all?” His voice got higher and more panicked as Marco kept moving.  
    “It’s a well-kept secret in the guild, actually.” Marco said quietly; Ace hurried closer so he could hear. “I’m not actually human, Ace.” The fire mage stared. “I’m a phoenix, and literally pure magic. If there’s a being more suited to purifying things, I’ve never heard of it. I’m able to heal wounds and cure diseases with my blood, and I’m nearly completely certain this will work.”  
    “‘Nearly completely certain’ isn’t good enough, Marco! I’ve spent months fighting these things, but I’ll keep fighting them if this is the outcome of all this! Who knows how much of your blood this will take!” Marco laughed slightly and brought his hand up to grip the back of Ace’s neck.  
    “'If you live life afraid of what will happen, you’ll never life a satisfied life', yoi.” Marco said calmly. “That’s what Pops said to me when he rescued me, and I believe that applies now. Now help me set up this magic circle, we’ll need to draw it out by hand.” Ace looked pensive but he nodded and Marco released him with a quick pat on the shoulder.  
    It took them nearly an hour to get the circle the way Marco wanted it, and Ace had to laugh at how the circle looked nearly demonic in nature- fitting considering the circumstance. Marco had gone back to their room briefly and came back with a special knife that he explained was one of the only things he knew of that could actually draw his blood. “I regenerate from everything, unless it’s an injury caused by this type of metal. Phoenix blood is actually worth quite a bit of money, you know.” Marco added with a small quirk of his lips.  
    “How can you be so nonchalant about all of this?” Ace asked quietly. They could hear the growls and screams from the demons coming as the sun started to set, but the sounds were still quite a ways off.  
    “I like to think that if I have the ability to do something, I should, yoi.” Marco stood in the center of the magic circle and pushed the blade against his hand. Without any further indication, he pressed the blade into the skin of his palm and immediately his body exploded into blue flames as they tried to fight against the injury but couldn’t when Marco kept the blade in the wound. Ace watched the flames dance with wide eyes. “Watch for demons, yoi.” Marco said as he cut into his palm further and more blood spilled onto the ground.  
The townspeople started to gather, as the barricades around the town started to shake and rattle with the force of the demons gathering outside. However the majority of them simply stared as Marco began to channel the healing power of his blood into the circle.  
    Ace watched with wide eyes when suddenly there was a shout.; his head snapped around to see a giant of a demon break through the town’s barricade. He went to run over, when suddenly Marco let out a shout and an explosion rocked them all off their feet. Ace saw everything move in slow motion as he was launched off of his feet and the sky entered his line of sight. He felt the dirt press into his back and he watched as a wave of blue and yellow flames suddenly washed over the sky and air rippled before a symphony of warbled screams filled the sudden silence.  
    Ace pushed himself up off the ground as fast as he could and ran over to where Marco lay. The phoenix’s flames licked at his skin and Ace lit his fist up on instinct and he watched in fascination how the two mingled. The blue flames weren’t hot and Ace could feel his exhaustion from the past months ebb away.  
    “Hey, Marco, get up.” Ace glanced over at the townspeople who were starting to clear the town of demon corpses. Ace distantly thought that it said a lot about the townspeople and their wills that there wasn’t even a commotion about how the demons were defeated so “easily” after so long. “Marco?”  
    The man groaned and rolled onto his side as he curled up into a ball. “I feel so light headed, yoi.” Ace snorted as Marco looked over at the town cleanup. “I guess it worked then?”  
    “I guess so.” Ace trailed off and Marco looked over with a frown. “Are you okay? I don’t…I have no idea what just happened but I’m pretty sure that wasn’t normal.”  
    Marco held out his hand and Ace stood up and hauled him to his feet. “I’ll explain everything on our way home. Let’s help these people first.”  
~~~  
    “Okay so, you said you would explain everything later.” Ace wasted no time in his interrogation, the words burst from him as soon as they had taken their seat on the train. “I’m going to ask you a question, and then I want the truth.” Marco smirked at Ace’s attempt to sound strong and mature. “You said you’re a phoenix, right?”  
    “That’s not really a question, yoi- but yes.” Marco crossed his arms. “I don’t know where I come from and I don’t know if I ever had parents.”  
    “How can you not know if you have parents?”  
    Marco shrugged. “The earliest memory I have is of a forest, but not any forest that’s around here. I don’t know how much time passed after that but I spent all of my time in that forest in my other form. After that the council got a hold of me somehow.”  
    “The council knows about you?” Ace furrowed his brow. “But...I’ve never heard anything about that!”  
Marco snorted. “You wouldn’t, it was on a need-to-know basis. I was officially on the council for a very, very long time but it’s not as if my vote ever counted for anything.” He rolled his eyes while Ace frowned a little dramatically. “I am also officially one of the Wizard Saints but you won’t see them waving my name around proudly. I don’t even count as a being worthy of thought, just an animal.” Marco couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice.  
    Ace whistled. “You are so fucking cool.” The bluntness of his statement made Marco burst into laughter, his face splitting into a wide grin as his sides shook. Ace flushed but smiled as well; Marco thought it was a nice smile. “Okay, so Vista said you were the first to join the guild? How does that work?”  
    Marco hummed. “Back when I was a councilman I once saved a teenage boy from some bandits.” Ace’s eyes widened. “Fast forward a few years, that teenage boy had left his original Magic Guild had come to the capital to speak about forming his own and at the point he had become known as Whitebeard.” He flashed Ace a grin. “Pops used to have really long blonde hair, believe it or not he was quite a handsome kid.” Ace cringed. “But anyway, he came to speak with us and sometime during all of that he recognized both that I was the man who had saved him, and that I was not with them under my own power. That made Pops pretty angry, but he didn’t do anything that would jeopardize his chance at forming his own guild. However to build a guild you need a councilman’s approval: that councilman was me.” Marco shrugged again. “I signed all of the necessary paperwork and then I essentially filed my ‘resignation’ as soon as it was official. I only got away because Pops is so damn intimidating and the condition that my identity as a phoenix was kept a secret.”  
    “It seems like everyone back home knows though?” Ace questioned, he remembered all of the little quips that his guildmates had made over the months that suddenly made so much more sense.  
    “No,” Marco chuckled. “I can’t keep much from them, especially when there’s a huge picture of me and Pops above the fireplace and he’s the only one who’s aged over the years.” He reached down to fiddle with a button on the booth cushion. “But we’re all a family, so I trust them all implicitly. I trust you implicitly.” He added as he looked up into Ace’s eyes. The fire mage beamed. “So it goes without saying that that little lightshow back in town should never be spoken about with anyone.” Ace nodded seriously.  
    “Of course!” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a second. “Is part of why you have to stay hidden because of your blood?”  
    “Yes. Phoenix blood can heal any injury, any disease, as long as the recipient isn’t already dead. Can’t reverse that.” He tilted his head as he looked out at the open skies on the other side of the dirty glass. “I can heal other people with my fire as well, if they can use fire in any form.”  
    “I found that out when you were knocked back after the curse broke.” Ace said as he nodded. “My fire reacted with yours and like, mixed. Then all of my exhaustion and stuff just...went away.”  
    Marco frowned. “Hm, it’s odd that it was done subconsciously, however," He conceded "I have seen much weirder things. Any other questions?”  
    Ace shook his head slowly. “I can’t really think of any at the moment.” He brightened. “However it’s not as if I’m not going to spend the rest of my life with the Siren Spawn so I have plenty of time to ask you.” Marco’s mood dimmed slightly.  
    “Yeah, you have the rest of your life.”  
~~~  
    “As a result of breaking a law of the highest consequence Councilman Marco, you will be taken to the capital to be tried for your crime.” Of all of the things to go wrong, suddenly their continuous failure at breaking that curse seemed completely insignificant. Marco knew something was wrong as soon as they had stepped off of the train however he hadn’t much time to think about the feeling before the Royal Army had surrounded them and Marco was being spoken to like a simpleton by a talking frog. He was visibly seething as a few men tried to restrain his arms, but he quickly pushed them away.  
    “I did no such thing- do you have any proof?”  
    Marco should have known they would have proof.  
    With a wave, the frog-person held a glow blue jar in their slimy hands. “This is a jar of your fire, is it not?” The glint in their eyes said that Marco was impossibly screwed. He sighed.  
    “What? Marco you can’t just give in like that!” Ace demanded from him as he shoved his body between the army and Marco. The blond looked down into his eyes, surprised to see such defiance. “You’re too proud to just give in to them like this! We just need to get Pops!”  
    Marco laughed softly. “Pops isn’t going to be able to do something about this, Ace.” He reached up and set his hand on the mage’s cheek; Ace’s eyes widened slightly. “I’m sorry I won’t be able to answer more of your questions, or let you get to know me better. I wanted to get to know you better too.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Ace’s cheek, and was immediately grabbed from behind and restrained. “Tell Pops what happened, there’s no need to lie to him.” As he was pushed towards the car he got one last look at Ace’s face and the stony expression on his face made Marco’s stomach flip. “Don’t do anything reckless, yoi!”  
~~~  
    “I thought I told you not to do anything reckless.” Marco said through prison bars not even a 48 hours later. Ace grinned from his spot chained to the floor. The chains were meant to restrain magic and Marco could tell it wasn’t comfortable.  
    “Hey, you also told me to tell Pops. Fifty percent isn’t that bad.” Marco snorted. “Besides, this is the only way to meet with you.”  
    “Why did you need to meet with me?” Marco leaned up against the bars, he didn’t care the his white cape was probably collecting all of the dirt in the air.  
    “You can’t just kiss me and then not expect me to find you!” Ace exclaimed, his face beet red. Marco flushed. “Besides, what the council is doing is illegal! You officially left them, they can’t force you back, let alone keep you from exposing who you are!”  
    “You seem to know a lot about how the council works, yoi.” Marco said slyly. Ace frowned. “And officially they can, as I am not considered a human being. All magical artifacts and creatures are under the jurisdiction of the council.” Marco shrugged. “It’s out of either of ours hands. And about that kiss…” Marco tilted his head as Ace flushed even brighter. However before Marco could elaborate the door to the cells opened and two soldiers made their way in.  
    “Please excuse us, Sir Marco.” One of the stuttered. Marco narrowed his eyes as he straightened. “The council requested your presence for his trial.” They moved around him and as they moved into the cell Marco made his way out of the holding area. He didn’t wait for them to leave and instead made his way towards where the rest of the council waited.  
    When he entered there were several murmurs from the members, however Chairman Sengoku silenced them with a look. “It’s strange to see you actually heed a call, Phoenix Marco.”  
    “Well, it’s also strange to be arrested as soon as I step off of a train, but you can’t live life without expecting some surprises.” Marco kept his voice short and clipped as he sat down in an empty seat.  
    Sengoku sniffed but quickly called for the guards to enter.  
    Marco did not in a million years expect the events that followed.  
    It was like slow motion when Ace entered. He came in with his hands shackled behind his back but that wasn’t the unexpected part. What was unexpected was how the chairman nearly flipped over the table in his haste to get around it and approach the young man. “What is going on here? Why is this man in chains?” Marco’s brow raised.  
    The guards looked confused as well. “We arrested him, sir. This is Ace, the man who-.”  
    “Yes I know who this is!” Sengoku roared as he snapped and released the handcuffs. “This is Ace D. Fiore- this is the crowned prince of Fiore!”  
    Marco stared.  
    The guards stared.  
    The council stared.  
    Ace giggled. And then schooled his expression and stared right back.  
    “It seems that your men don’t know their rulers when they see them, Chairman.” Ace said lowly. Marco as reminded of all of the times that Ace hinted at a birth nobler than he looked, his haughty tones and how he said he came from a wealthy family. 'Very wealthy' indeed. “Now as an order from Her Majesty, my mother, and the master of the Siren Spawn guild, Whitebeard, you will release Marco from his servitude.”  
    “Servitude?” The council squawked in indignation. “He is a member of this council voluntarily, just like the rest of us!” The man that sat next to him added loudly. Marco chose not to roll his eyes- it wasn’t the time.  
Sengoku was silent.  
    “Well, Chairman? Are you going to refuse an order from your queen and sovereign?” Ace seemed incredibly uncomfortable with his tone of voice and his actions but Marco appreciated the sentiment and chose not to ruin his only chance of returning to his family.  
    It was silent for a while. “Very well.” Sengoku finally said, as he turned to lock eyes with Marco. “But mark my words Marco- you only get one more chance, and then that is it for you.” The phoenix simply smiled at him as he stood up.  
    “I won’t need it Chairmen, I will behave.” He unclipped the cape around his shoulders and threw it at the man sat next to him. He made his way down towards Ace and couldn’t help but chuckle as Ace relaxed minutely. “Let’s go home, yoi.”  
~~~  
    As soon as they were outside Ace groaned loudly and leaned dramatically against Marco’s shoulder. “I am such an idiot! I used my title to free you but now I won’t be able to see you because I’ll be stuck at the palace! Ugh!”  
    Marco chuckled and maneuvered them so that they could keep moving back in the direction of their guild. “Let Pops handle all of that- he can get his point across very well at times. We might be able to reach a compromise, yoi.”  
    “That sounds nice.” Ace sighed and straightened up as he shoved his hands into his shorts pockets. “You know what doesn’t sound nice, though?” Marco hummed. “If you keep me waiting any longer. Thatch told me how you feel.” Marco came to a halt, his eyes were wide as Ace smiled shyly. “I know there’s still things we need to talk about- like our age difference, like wow how am I gonna explain that to my mother-.”  
    Marco leaned down and pressed his mouth against Ace’s, and effectively cut off any rambling that had started. Ace whined and reached up to grip at Marco’s hair as their heads tilted and their bodies pressed together so tight a piece of paper couldn’t fit between them. When they separated for air Ace giggled and Marco let his hand turn to fire to mix with Ace’s as they linked fingers. “It’s not as if we’re going anywhere, yoi. Except for home. We should probably tell Pops what happened before we do anything else.”  
    Ace giggled again but nodded and started to pull Marco along, their flaming hands still linked together. “Yeah, it’s not like we’re going anywhere.”

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't like how this ended. But the story just went ahead and did it's own thing- as they tend to do. I might end up writing something explaining more about Ace but at the moment, I just want to see how this is perceived.


End file.
